Tuesday 29 November 2016 09.50 EST
First published on Tuesday 29 November 2016 07.49 EST

An estimated 100,000 British television programmes – which could include early editions of TV-AM, children’s series such as Tiswas, and fondly remembered, for some, episodes of Border TV’s Mr & Mrs – are to be digitised to prevent them being lost forever.

The British Film Institute has announced the mass digitisation project to save programmes which are held on obsolete video formats, warning that there are only five or six years left to save those most at risk.

The BFI’s creative director, Heather Stewart, said it was too early to say exactly which titles would be digitised, that would only be known after a six-month “discovery phase”.

“Material from the 70s and early 80s is at risk with a five or six-year shelf life,” she said. “Unless we do something about it they will just go, no matter how great the environment is you keep them in.”

Many of the better known British TV programmes from the era, such as Dad’s Army and Morecambe & Wise, have already been transferred to a digital format. But there are around 750,000 programmes on degradable one-inch and two-inch video which no one has touched.

The job now was to sit down with partners and agree which programmes were most in danger of being lost, said Stewart. They will include children’s programming, important one-off dramas, the beginning of breakfast TV and many regional ITV programmes.

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Children’s programmes from the 1970s that have not been digitised include Tiswas, the Basil Brush Show, Vision On and Southern TV’s fun and educational programme How (which ranged from the useful – how to get a ship in a bottle – to the stupid – how can you break an egg with a feather? Drop them at the same time.)

Other shows that could be transferred are music series such as the Bay City Rollers’ teatime show Shang-a-Lang and Tyne Tees’ Alright Now, a precursor of The Tube; drama series such as the BBC’s Rainbow City (1967), which was one of the first to feature a black lead character; and current affairs programmes such as the long-running Nationwide.

Stewart said the BFI was not there to decide which programmes deserved to be saved on the basis of quality – even Derek Batey’s Mr & Mrs could be in there. “Where I come from in Scotland, the one TV programme that was made by Border telly was Mr & Mrs … that was their claim to fame and in 200 years’ time Mr & Mrs needs to be there.

“It is our role to look after the whole lot and not make those judgments that Mr & Mrs is not worth keeping.”

Some of the endangered programmes are stored at the BFI’s national archive in Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, and digitising them will free up valuable space and save money in the long term, said Stewart.

Amanda Nevill, the BFI’s chief executive, said the organisation was best known for preserving film. “This is a signal to remember that our TV heritage is as multiple a source of creativity as our film heritage,” she said.

The mass digitisation plan is part of a much wider five-year strategy for UK film announced in Birmingham and London on Tuesday.

Nevill and the BFI chairman, Josh Berger, revealed details of the strategy, called BFI2022. Among the promises are:

For the first time, using lottery money to support new films not necessarily destined for the cinema.

Devolving 25% of all BFI production to decision-makers based outside London.

Improving the diversity of filmmaking and audiences with a number of measures. One is that all UK film productions will be encouraged to adopt BFI diversity standards.

Using the “power of BFI cultural programmes to set agendas”. Examples of this will include exploring Britishness and year-round programming celebrating the representation of women.

A big part of the BFI’s future will be vacating the 1950s building it occupies on London’s South Bank. The organisation has been desperate to leave for years and had the backing of Gordon Brown’s last Labour government for a new £166m film centre. The plan was dashed by the financial crisis.

“The BFI’s job is to champion the future success of film in the UK and this plan is designed to do that – we want to back the brave, the new and the experimental.

“Our aim is to find, educate and support the very best talent, give them the skills, tools and creative freedom needed to tell their stories, and make sure as many people as possible can enjoy and be inspired by those stories on the big screen, the small screen and even the screen in their pocket.”